A View from Kinshasa. Part 2: Being Here

Pretty much, queen of the pile of bags :)

This week has been a whirlwind: of emotions, of meeting people, of shopping, of preparing. Each morning, breakfast is provided by the hostel at 7am. Sydney decided to stay on the France time zone after the initial morning, and was up promptly around 5:30am every morning except today (she slept until 6:45!!) Therefore, our mornings started out early and a bit groggily. No amount of pleading with her to please stay and read books by herself in her crib for, oh, an hour, or reasoning with her that the sun wasn't up yet, or keeping her out until late at night; none of that would persuade her to sleep in later. In addition, I caught a bit of a cold during our transition, so I wasn't feeling great or energetic for much of the week. 

Sydney checking Dr. Rice's heart rate after finding the stethoscope treasure in one of the trunks.

But indeed, having a team has been wonderful! We split up duties so that when some were shopping for household items, others volunteered to stay at the hostel while Sydney slept, for example. When Sydney decided she would eat only a small portion because there were so many places to explore, there were others who could get up early from the table to run around with her while Ryan and I got to finish eating.

My emotions/impressions of being in Kinshasa this time, as opposed to other short-term trips to Africa or even last time I was here, are surprisingly different. I have felt less inclined to walk around, explore, and get to know the people, and more driven to finish objectives, find items, and meet specific people. I suppose it is necessary to be more focused, but it is weird to me that I have been driven everywhere this time around and have had to be deliberate in my choices of who and what to invest time in. It is also a different experience to have Sydney with us. Keeping her welfare in mind (as in when she needs a nap) has caused changes in pace in general, but it is very different than when traveling without a child. Secondly, she is an instant connection with people, which has and will continue to be such a blessing as we move to the village.

Our language training in France seems to be paying great dividends! It is great to be able to understand and talk to most of the people on the street! Even those who know English become much more expressive when we can switch to French, and that has been probably the most fun for me to experience. I even ordered a pizza on the telephone and the order came through correct! I was a bit nervous at first because I was handed a bag of sodas before the rest of the order, not knowing that they came with the pizza. Whew! Ryan spent an entire day shopping for solar energy equipment with a French-speaking Congolese, seemingly without a hiccup. :) At any rate, we are very encouraged by our ability to understand and communicate!!

As mentioned in Part 1 of this blog, the city seems more modern than before, updated and hopeful. We have had more comfortable temperatures than I was expecting, less traffic jams, and better food. That being said, it is still an adjustment to realize that to make a left hand turn, one must just start going and get a bumper in front of another. Other drivers expect this, in fact, and are driving slowly enough to let you "cut them off."

A DRIVING STORY
A specific example of driving conditions, is that there is a huge washout in a main intersection of downtown. (Kinshasa is built on sand, and a water leak can wreak havoc!) We were in the back of a landcruiser, thankfully, as the drop-off into the giant pothole is significant. Then as we were trying to climb out of it at the end of the intersection, navigating with other motorcycles and buses and cars along the way, we were suddenly head-on with a bus in our lane and another bus to our left with the building on our right. Our driver KEPT DRIVING until he came nose to nose with this bus at the edge of the pothole which we were still in. To me this was extra intimidating as we were a foot below that road, and the bus looked extra intimidating. Somehow, I guess this is expected, and someone standing on the road intervened and asked the bus to back up a bit. The bus on our left made its way into the pothole, and we then slid around the bus in front of us as we climbed out of the pothole.

SHOPPING
Shopping was a very successful, albeit tiring, experience. We found that there were more options and variety here in Kinshasa than we had in France, with the caveat that the prices are 2-8x higher. A tiny portion of Jelly Belly's is around $5 for instance. And a second caveat is that Albertville was a relatively small rural town vs Kinshasa which has over 10 million inhabitants. We were mainly stocking up on appliances which need to be replaced at our house which hasn't been lived in for 15 yrs, like a stove and washing machine, and on consumables like shampoo and conditioner and crackers and cheese which aren't available in the village (in large quantities or varieties at least).

Some of the many choices at the fabric store- I got ideas for what is available for cushions, curtains, dresses, etc.

Lastly, we needed to buy solar energy equipment. It is a longer story, but we received the unfortunate news in the last couple of weeks that our solar power system which Ryan ordered in January, was not even out of the shipping warehouse in Maryland, much less in Kinshasa or en route. This is "necessary" for us to move into our house as there is only electricity from the hospital generator for 3 hours a day (6pm-9pm). Our minimal hope was to have enough battery power and solar energy to run a fan at night (no Kansas winds here in the humidity), keep the fridge cold, and keep computers and phones charged and computing.

Shopping for essentials. Ice cream is essential, right?

We have felt many answers to this prayer. First, we have had several people let us know that they wanted to give a little extra at this time for our ministry. Secondly, another missionary here in Congo is going to lend us a power inverter, and may even buy back some items for a local school after our shipment comes so that we don't have to double up on that expense. And thirdly, Ryan was able to go out with a Congolese expert in solar energy and found many of the stores that sell the equipment (a little here, a little there, a lotta time) that was good quality but 2-8x expensive. Ryan was quite satisfied with that day of shopping and pleased that he had researched and bought in the US due to prices here.

PEOPLE
It was also an important part of our time this week to make connections and establish relationships with people who have and will continue to be important to us during our time in Congo. We went and shook hands with the leadership of the Congolese Baptist Church, as Vanga Hospital is part of their organization. We met with several pastors that have been instrumental in connections between New City Fellowship in St. Louis and the Congolese churches here, and are a big reason why the Rices felt called to come here, and therefore why we are here as well. Due to my aforementioned fatigue and other individual invitations, we did not join the Rices as they visited a school supported in part by New City and shared a few meals with these amazing advocates for the poor and the orphan. During our team meeting tonight, we noted that these visits were highlights of their time in Kinshasa.

We had a welcome potluck at Mama Katherine's house with several other missionaries, which was a great time of fellowship. Katherine is the daughter of the late Dr. Dan Fountain who was instrumental in the development of the Vanga Hospital for many years.

Mama Katherine took Sydney out in her backyard before the potluck and showed her the Congo River and the beautiful hibiscus flowers in her garden

Just beside Katherine's home is the first permanent building built in Congo! It is a church and is still being used. 

Sydney and I went to visit the Linds in their new home in Kinshasa. We became very close to them during language school, and it was fun to be together again in a different setting. One thing I noticed was the reality of coming to a mostly unfurnished home, waiting on a shipment which is stuck in port, and making all the adjustments one might make moving to a new city or state in the US, only WITH the added stress of a new culture and language, occasional electricity, black flies, etc. This is the reality, but yet, as Lisa pointed out, this chaos is contained, it is her house finally (after years in transition!), and the kids can play outside! I am sooo looking forward to this as we head out to Vanga tomorrow!

Madame Entropy at her best. Within 5 minutes of her arrival, ALL of their toys were on the floor, just ready to be played with. This is very Sydney :) and we love her.

In the neighbor's yard just a gate away from the Linds, Sydney was able to play with a lot of kids. A little boy started crying when his dad told him to let Sydney have a turn on the swing. When she was done with her turn, she went to the still-sobbing boy, sat on his lap, and touched his cheek. Empathy is so precious! 

We were able to have a teamcongo dinner one last time (for now!!) and it was so very hard for us to say goodbye at the end of the evening.

Team Congo- Kinshasa contingent

We spent our last day here in Kinshasa with a group of missionaries including Mama Katherine and her family (mentioned earlier). It was a completely different look at Kinshasa, this time from the Congo River.

Fisherman's Island. The building in the middle is a church!

Mama Katherine, sleeping Sydney, and me in the boat

Pushing me down the sand embankment was one of her favorite activities

The Congo River is so wide at this point that it almost doesn't seem to be moving. The land in the background is yet another island and the Republic of Congo is beyond it. The silt/sand and the shallow water was a perfect spot to play at.

 And tomorrow, we will be flying over this location as we move to Vanga!